I shall again be running the bar – the Whistleblower’s Arms - at the Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival from 22 to 24 August at Cardross, Port of Menteith.

I find this festival, which is very much a lifestyle event and features mostly new talent, an extremely life-affirming experience. Last year it brought me back from a very dark place. Some of this blogs most active commenters and helpers have been among the volunteers over the last couple of years, keeping the event going. Personally for me the festival is necessarily centred around Williams Bros and Thistly Cross, but there is a tremendous variety of music:

The event is very family friendly, and also an amazing place to meet new friends. It does not have any specific political orientation, but I might fairly say that the vibe is very much in line with the kind of unconstrained intellectual space promoted on this blog. On top of which Cardross is an extraordinarily beautiful place. The variety of local food on site, ranging from vegan to game, is one of the things I really enjoyed. It is a not for profit event and nobody gets a salary.

Tickets are not expensive by festival standards, and certainly cheaper than a weekend break in a hotel. But there is also the alternative of working your passage – the festival still needs plenty of volunteers.

I am genuinely looking forward to it enormously. Hope to see you there.

Resident Dissident (7 Jul, 2014 – 8:29 pm) asks whether it was a good or bad thing that David Irving’s career was destroyed. I’ll answer that. It was a bad thing. It was a very bad thing.

Until he questioned aspects of the holocaust, he was a well-respected historian and regarded as an expert in the military and political history of World War II, and a specialist on Nazi Germany. Nobody questions the sincerity of his views. So why should an academic be persecuted for expressing his honestly-held opinion on a subject he is well qualified to discuss? Whether you agree or disagree with his views isn’t the point.

His views are not racist. They do not incite violence. Why should he not be allowed to express them?
What about you, Resident Dissident? Do you think it is a good thing when a person’s life is destroyed for disagreeing with the mainstream view. Can you cite any other example where a person’s honest disagreement on the interpretation of facts has been punished so harshly?

So why should an academic be persecuted for expressing his honestly-held opinion on a subject he is well qualified to discuss?

For the same reason that a comedian is hounded and persecuted for an “inverse” (bizarre ain’t got a look in) nazi salute! For the same reason of forcing the closure of theatres to stop his sell out shows, and taking him to court. Accompanied with the usual medjia persecution to fanfare of nazi are back to invade the world (the other half which has not been invaded by the Muslim hoards).

The extent of pernicious power is to a degree that no one dares to talk about it, and it is best to self censor and only hints at it are allowed.

Yes, Fedup, I’ve already crossed swords with Resident Dissident over Dieudonne. As I remember, I asked him which he thought was more important – that Dieudonne was speaking the truth when he claimed his country was controlled by Zionists or that his message might be claimed to be antisemitic. You can guess his answer. In fairness, he did concede during that same conversation that some people might sometimes use accusations of antisemitism to stifle legitimate debate.

However, I believe the case of David Irving is even more clear-cut. It’s a simple matter of freedom of speech, and I’m interested to see whether RD is a free-speech denier.

Yes, I politely requested that that you don’t join in when I am engaged in a one-to-one with another poster. I often find your contributions confusing and on more than one occasion, you’ve let my opponent off the hook by providing a distraction. Frankly, I don’t know what to make of you, Ben. You often post interesting and useful stuff, but sometimes your language is so cryptic that I think it risks making the blog a laughing stock.

This comment of yours to which I am replying (7 Jul, 2014 – 10:49 pm) is a case in point. I don’t understand it. Are you really asking me not to interfere in your conversation with RD, or are you joking? You don’t seem to be having a conversation with him – yes, you’re mocking him, fair enough, that’s your business, but I can’t see a conversation. I guess you’re joking, but in that case you’re doing just what I asked you not to do.

I don’t think you mean any harm, and I think we’re on the same side, so let’s just agree that our writing styles are incompatible and do our own thing our own way. A mutual non-confusion pact.

Ditto; A Node. I find your contributions vague and inane, almost a cry for help. YIt’s not truly a hardship to avoid your conversations, but I thought you might have the courtesy to reciprocate on my ‘favor’ to you, as you clearly deemed. Perhaps if you find my comments cryptic you could get a decoder ring from the cerealbox you derive your platitudes from.

You have made two comments involving RD, one of them addressed to him about frustration (7 Jul, 2014 – 9:28 pm), and the other to Mary about him (7 Jul, 2014 – 9:50 pm). Therefore if you believe you were having a conversation with RD, it must have been the one involving frustration.
You have accused me of interfering with the thread of that conversation. I did not. I did not refer to anything you said, and I did not refer to anything RD said which you were responding to. Furthermore I would not have interfered in that [literally] one-sided conversation. Your comment was puerile and pointless, why would I want to get involved with it? Let’s examine it:

“That’s a good question for your own self. Got ‘blockage’? I certainly feel your aggravation as you fail to get a foothold here. Or maybe that’s what turns your crank.”

You were referring to a question RD asked Mary, not you, so I’ve quoted your entire ‘conversation’. And you think I want to interfere with that? Not with a 10 foot bargepole. What I did do was take issue with the substance of RD’s comment – I engaged in rational debate with him. I shan’t explain what those words mean, suffice it to say it’s what the grown ups do.

Thank you for graphically illustrating my claim about your confused thought processes. I tried to be polite, but your rudeness and hostility in response is all for the best. It means I am justified in ignoring you from now on.

The Canadian B’Nai Brith need a serious reining in for producing this filth.

‘How On Earth Can Israel Tolerate This Filth From B’nai Brith Canada?
Four million Canadians carrying the anti-Semitic ‘disease’? We’ve heard this kind of despicable propaganda before.

By Robert Fisk

July 01, 2014 “ICH” – “The Independent” – – Not long ago, I was handed the most outrageous, vile, dishonest and slanderous calumny uttered against the people of Canada. It was contained in a full-page advertisement in the National Post (founder, Conrad Black), a newspaper handed out – free, I’m happy to say – on my Air France flight out of Toronto. Here is the headline: “Almost 4 million Canadians are afflicted by this disease.”

Beneath this title is a half-page, very blurred and uncaptioned colour photo of a large crowd – they could be football supporters, rush-hour commuters in Vancouver, you name it; they are mostly white males but include women and with at least one dark-skinned man close to the camera. Beneath the picture, this incredible ad continues: “Left unchecked, it [the disease] can result in violence tendencies. Many times, those infected haven’t been diagnosed and may pass it on to their children, grandchildren, colleagues or friends. Please help stop the spread of this disease before it contaminates your community.”
This is frightening stuff, of course. Could this refer to some of the six million Canadians who may be living with HIV/Aids? Or the 4.5 million Canadians affected by arthritis? Or the 2.5 million Canadians believed to have diabetes? Or even some of the estimated 7.8 million Canadians treated for depression each year? Nope. This is far more serious. For the “disease” afflicting “almost 4 million Canadians” is “anti-Semitism” and this disgusting advertisement – published without comment by one of Canada’s leading right-wing newspapers – was produced by B’nai Brith Canada and the “Jewish Christian Alliance”.’
/..http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article38955.htm

Robert Fisk went on to compare this outpouring to that produced by the Nazis.

‘But what, we have to ask, possesses Israel’s “friends” to publish this pernicious material about 4 million “diseased” Canadians? Does B’nai Brith Canada not realise that these very same despicable lies were used by the Nazis in their hate propaganda against the Jews of Europe? In Hitler’s Germany, Jews were described as microbes. Jews, according to Julius Streicher, were “the carriers of disease and vermin among men”. In August 1941, Goebbels called Jews “the carriers of infectious diseases” and two weeks later referred to Jews as “parasites”. By November, he was calling them “lice”.’

~~

‘B’nai B’rith International (English pronunciation: /bəˌneɪ ˈbrɪθ/, from Hebrew: בני ברית‎ b’né brit, “Children of the Covenant”),[1] is the oldest Jewish service organization in the world. B’nai B’rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish people and the State of Israel and combating antisemitism and bigotry. Its mission is to unite persons of the Jewish faith and to enhance Jewish identity through strengthening Jewish family life, to provide broad-based services for the benefit of senior citizens, and to facilitate advocacy and action on behalf of Jews throughout the world.

Although the organization’s historic roots stem from a system of fraternal lodges[2] and units in the late 20th century,[3] as fraternal organizations declined throughout the United States, the organization evolved into a dual system of both lodges and units. The membership pattern became more common to other contemporary organizations of members affiliated by contribution in addition to formal dues paying members. In recent years, the organization reported more than 200,000 members and supporters in more than 50 countries and a budget of $14,000,000. Nearly 95% of the membership is in the United States.

B’nai B’rith International is affiliated with the World Jewish Congress.’

AMY GOODMAN: We’re right across from Harrods, the famous department store.
JULIAN ASSANGE: There is, under the Freedom of—under, actually, the Data Protection Act, we filed a act against Harrods and got information out showing how Harrods were in fact assisting the police surveillance operation.
AMY GOODMAN: How?
JULIAN ASSANGE: By permitting the police to use various buildings and facilities that Harrods has, not just the formal building, but they have a number of buildings which face onto the embassy. Additionally, it might be something of interest that Harrods was bought out by the Qatar sovereign fund a while ago, so it is ultimately Qatar that is supporting the surveillance operation of this embassy through its collaboration with the British government.

Bit of a falling-out between A Node and California Ben above, what? Always amusing to see two Eminences having a go at each other out of wounded vanity and over-self-consciousness!

BTW, re David Irving and his “destroyed career”*, let it be noted that it was Irving who sought brought an action for libel against Deborah Lipstadt and the other way round. Like Oscar Wilde, Irving over-reached himself when trying to silence someone else.

* (Baal-type footnote)I note that Mary, who started off this exchange, hasn’t had the guts to answer Resident Dissident’s question. What an armchair warrior, she daren’t even defend her own posts!

On David Irving, I do not approve of his persecution, on free speech grounds. But having actually read some of his earlier books, including his life of Rommel, I think he always appears to have had a dangerous attraction to Nazi Germany. That sympathy led him to fall below standards of academic rigour.

Whatever one thinks of present day Israel, to deny the massive scale of organised extermination of Jews (and other groups) by the Nazis is ridiculous – and almost always motivated by anti-Semitism.

Thanks for the B’nai Brith ad. There is one group of people on Earth you are not even allowed to think about disliking, and their self-appointed voice makes itself, and them, as dislikeable as it possibly can. No wonder the frustration boils over from time to time.

Comparing the (unequivocal) B’nai Brith equation of antisemitism with disease, with Goebbels’ equation of Judaism with disease; does this itself constitute antisemitism in your view? I’d like to know, for future reference.

“On David Irving, I do not approve of his persecution, on free speech grounds. But having actually read some of his earlier books, including his life of Rommel, I think he always appears to have had a dangerous attraction to Nazi Germany. That sympathy led him to fall below standards of academic rigour.”
____________________

I broadly agree with that. Just three points:

1/. Not sure that he’s being “persecuted” and would welcome detail for that suggestion. It is true that he was barred from entering Germany and is barred from entering Canada and Australia, but I’m not sure if that amounts to “persecution” for a historian/writer/polemicist. The recent court case was brought by Irving in response to a book by a minor American academic which would have sold few copies (at least in the UK) and would soon have disappeared into the morass of holocaust literature, and was Irving’s own “Oscar Wilde moment”.

2/. The evidence brought by expert witnesses (including Richard Evans) at the Lipstadt trial demonstrated quite clearly that your point about Irving’s lack of academic rigour is correct. And it is not the first time: as another example, Irving’s contention (cf “Uprising-One nation’s nightmare: Hungary 1956″)that the Hungarian AVO (secret police) was largely run and staffed by Jews has been shown (cf Anne Applebaum i.a.) to be incorrect.

3/. Having read some of Irving’s work, I should make a point which isn’t often made – because the argument always gravitates around question of academic rigour, or intention. That point is that he is simply not a very good writer and that his style (nothing to do with content)is not pleasing.

Arafat case may prove another huge judicial blow for Israel
As Israel tries to cope with the fallout from the sadistic murder of a young Palestinian, there is an allegedly unlawful killing threatening to cause it even greater problems. France has effectively re-opened the investigation into the 2004 death of Yasser Arafat, arguably the most internationally famous Palestinian of the last few decades, and a Nobel Prize winning peace maker.

I am unlike Habbabkuk (who seems to have made a deep study of Irving’s and Lipstadt’s writing) in that I have read none of their books.

~~~

Who’s have thunk it? There is nothing new under the sun.

57 Years Ago: U.S. and Britain Approved Use of Islamic Extremists to Topple Syrian Government
July 07, 2014

Have the U.S. and Its Allies Intentionally Balkanized Syria Into Smaller Regions?

BBC reports that – in 1957 – the British and American leaders approved the use of Islamic extremists and false flag attacks to topple the Syrian government:

Nearly 50 years before the war in Iraq, Britain and America sought a secretive “regime change” in another Arab country… by planning the invasion of Syria and the assassination of leading figures.

Newly discovered documents show how in 1957 [former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom] Harold Macmillan and President Dwight Eisenhower approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria’s pro-western neighbours, and then to “eliminate” the most influential triumvirate in Damascus.

Although historians know that intelligence services had sought to topple the Syrian regime in the autumn of 1957, this is the first time any document has been found showing that the assassination of three leading figures was at the heart of the scheme. In the document drawn up by a top secret and high-level working group that met in Washington in September 1957, Mr Macmillan and President Eisenhower were left in no doubt about the need to assassinate the top men in Damascus.

Mr Macmillan ordered the plan withheld even from British chiefs of staff, because of their tendency “to chatter”.

“I am unlike Habbabkuk (who seems to have made a deep study of Irving’s and Lipstadt’s writing) in that I have read none of their books.”
___________________

Nothing like flagging one’s ignorance with pride, eh, Mary?

And not that that ignorance stops you from posting on about matters Jewish, anti-Semotoc, “fascist”, Nazi and so on. But hey, I forgot, it’s not you saying anything is it, it’s always someone else (cf. posts passim)!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interesting how the usual suspects, always ready to pile into everything and everyone, are keeping very quiet about David Irving….except to defend him.

Whenever I read of yet another Zionist finally seeing the light, I always wonder how on earth it took them so long, it’s not as if these latest killings are worst than Cast Lead or the regular turkey shoots of Lebanese civilians, etc, bloody etc;

Radio 5 was on in the kitchen while I was in another room. I became aware that someone was justifying Israel’s military strikes on Gaza by referring to rocket strikes. This person, perhaps Israel’s ambassador, was explaining at great length how patiently Israel had borne these attacks and how it much regretted having to retaliate with air strikes. Then, I’m almost certain, Nicky Campbell responded by saying “has it occurred to you Hamas are deliberately doing it to provoke Israel into attacking Gaza.” The interviewee agreed he had wondered about that and the interview then ended with neither of them speculating on why Hamas might want such a thing.

There doesn’t seem to be a listen again feature for Radio 5. Can anybody confirm what I thought I heard

“This whole evil Jew cult running the world nonsense is an obsession almost certainly encouraged by people at Langley.?”

Whilst I don’t totally dismiss this idea, how would you explain the seeming influence of Jews before the creation of the CIA in 1947. For example, in 1896 Theodor Herzl had enough confidence in the power of international Jewry to call for the creation of a Zionist state, resulting in the Balfour Declaration of 1926.

I certainly believe that it is in the interests of the CIA and other Western powers to support Zionism, but who is pulling who’s strings is not clear to me. The end result is that the vast majority of us, Jews and non Jews, are pawns in a game plan.

Phil, I also find crowd-funding of a fighting group remarkable. Thanks for pointing it out; I just had nothing further to add. It reminds me of the “Eye Need” column at the back of Private Eye, I think.

The “whole evil Jew cult running the world nonsense” phenomena seems a predictable reaction to pro-Israeli propaganda and disproportionate Israeli political influence – so yes, “…encouraged by people at Langley”.

It’s not clear to anyone else, either, including those who think they know which strings they’re pulling. The universe is not a tidy place where things happen for reasons that are easily comprehended within a human mind. Why things happened as they did is often not known until later, if ever. But I reckon a lot of it is just down to convergence of interests, who knows who, and who speaks which languages.

The Balfour Declaration dates from 1917, not 1926. It’s really just a brief letter. The Balfour Note would be more accurate. Its full text is as follows:

His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

Although it comprises only a single sentence, it is waved around most triumphantly by those with a woefully poor attention span who can’t make it past the second comma.

Come on. I didn’t say the CIA invented the Jews. Yes the Jews did exist and had a reputation before the CIA. I am suggesting that the CIA encourage bullshit ideas (all the better if building on age old bigotry) to create diversion and cause division that sustain the murderous system.

Your compassion is partial. When did anyone here last say a word about the Congo or Western Sahara? Not incidentally, when did the state-corporate media last say a word about the Congo or Western Sahara?

Perhaps you are manipulated to have an unhealthy obsession that militantly prioritises the Middle East.

No doubt, just like the “Communist Threat” was used for decades as a convenient ploy by the Western PTB, for their ulterior agendas; this doesn’t alter the fact that ramifications surrounding the I/P issue, corrupts & permeates almost everything of importance that happens in the World, so to stick your head in the sand by turning a blind eye to it doesn’t seem like a sensible option if you really want to understand what & why things happen as they do.

Take your Ukrainian crowd funding discovery, and imagine if it was headed slightly different, as so;

STOP THE ISRAELI GENOCIDE IN PALESTINE! HELP THE PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS AND FIGHTERS IN THIS FIGHT!

We all know that everybody associated with such an appeal, as well as everybody who actually contributed, would be charged with “Sponsoring Terrorism”, at the very least!

So does not following your blind eye approach, mean that such double standards should not be questioned, just merely accepted ?

(Interesting to see that as you have posted that Ukraine Appeal here, if any of the resident Russophobes will be tempted to add to the zero balance so far !)

“an unhealthy obsession that militantly prioritises the Middle East”

No, it’s OUR Governments that have this obsession, and for more than one reason; as for other issues such as the Congo or Western Sahara, etc, I can’t do better than Chomsky’s own reply on this very point;

Yes, the Israeli state is bad and has influence disproportionate to it’s size. I am not sure why you are stressing this so.

The Chmosky quote you linked to suggests you seem to think the misery of Africa has nothing to do with “us”.

The system and forces that cause conflict in Palestine are the same as those which cause conflict in Congo. Basically they both boil down to international capital (mostly US/EU) funded proxy armies causing division to control resources and make profit.

If indeed “we” are culpable (even this attribution of our collective guilt is a manipulation), “we” are culpable for the misery in the Congo and we are culpable for the misery in Palestine. Why are you exclusively obsessed with one?

Only in the sense that the Shand-Kydd gel was the peoples’ princess, RD. That is, obsessive media hype shoves every important item (and clandestine policy) off the front pages of all media everywhere. The time BBC R4 alone has devoted to this bunch of sweating Lycra-coated twats is astonishing. Much of it during news programmes.

Message to all media from this litre-bike rider – who is trying to avoid the Bradley Wiggins wannabe who has wobbled into his path, both hands off the bars, texting (probably some other pushbiker, maybe obtaining a race commentary from Yorkshire) and oblivious to all else: –
IT’S NOT BIG, IT’S NOT CLEVER AND IT’S NOT EXPLETIVE NEWS.

Er, Captcha…when you ask me to solve x-2=5, what are your grounds for rejecting 7? Are we working in base 6? Or should I have included Planck’s constant in my working?

“Er, Captcha…when you ask me to solve x-2=5, what are your grounds for rejecting 7? Are we working in base 6? Or should I have included Planck’s constant in my working?”

On the grounds that you had left the blog page open for too long without inputting anything to the text window. After a certain amount of time (my creators did not include the exact amount in my programming), I cease to function correctly on a given page and it is necessary for the user [you] to create a new instance of me by hitting [F5].

On the grounds that you had left the blog page open for too long without inputting anything to the text window. After a certain amount of time (my creators did not include the exact amount in my programming), I cease to function correctly on a given page and it is necessary for the user [you] to create a new instance of me by hitting [F5].

Thanks, Captcha. But, on that comment, I barely paused. On others, which accept the correct answer, I frequently divert to another page for some time in the process of composing my deathless insights. The timeout would seem to be highly variable.

as an internet user since 1984 (true!) I’m surprised when I come across an actual re-write of history. Admittedly this history is just from last-week, and it is a sensitive part of the current Information-War. I post this not to promote one side or the other, just to highlight that any story that you read might change radically the next time that you access it – was the DailyMail hacked to produce such an article, was the DM editor asleep, were the nice folks at the DA-committee at lunch??

BUT THE CURRENT PAGE HAS NO “AMERICANS” , NO “ADVISERS” – lots of sad pictures of bombing

the DM page that we can see at the link now is timed at 20:43 on 2nd July 2014, whilst the original page was written 12 hours before that, and probably contained this text – found elsewhere on the internet – which directly references this above Daily Mail link

“America is masterminding Ukraine’s military surge against pro-Russian separatists in a bid to expand Nato further east, it was today claimed. Military advisers have flooded into the country and are now embedded with Kiev’s forces, according to one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top security experts. They are reportedly attempting to crush insurgents in a game-changing move, which involves encouraging Ukraine to join Nato in a threat to Russian interests. ‘It is quite apparent that this is one of the goals,’ said Russian Deputy Security Council Secretary, Yevgeny Lukyanov. Speaking after a meeting with the Kremlin leader, Mr Lukyanov alleged that U.S. mercenary fighters are also on the ground in Ukraine. “

Why would the Daily-Mail remove this paragraph? it seems to add to the debate.

another version of this text referencing the DM link

“- Advisers are embedded with Kiev’s forces, claims Moscow security expert
– They are ‘masterminding Ukraine’s surge against pro-Russian separatists’
– Also reportedly encouraging the country to join Nato in threat to Russia
– Yevegeny Lukyanov made comments following meeting with Vladimir Putin
– Today, Ukraine is continuing ‘massive artillery and air offensive’ on rebels
– It comes amid unconfirmed claims of heavy casualties among insurgents

America is masterminding Ukraine’s military surge against pro-Russian separatists in a bid to expand Nato further east, it was today claimed. Military advisers have flooded into the country and are now embedded with Kiev’s forces, according to one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s top security experts.They are reportedly attempting to crush insurgents in a game-changing move, which involves encouraging Ukraine to join Nato in a threat to Russian interests.”

Yet another version online aimed at the same DM link

“Advisers are embedded with Kiev’s forces, claims Moscow security expert. In Donetsk, the capital of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, streets were deserted and gunfire filled the air yesterday as rebels besieged the Interior Ministry building. The rebels eventually captured the compound, leaving the body of a undercover police officer on the street outside.”

now, none of these paragraphs are in the DM story, there is no explanation of the difference, no previous versions available at the DM website. Does anyone know the back-story to the “AMERICAN ADVISER” html link?
presumably this was the actual physical DM printed newspaper story last Wednesday? Fish n’ Chip wrapping by Thursday… it seems

Does the same happen with our other favourite online news stories?Will Minitrue be active in the Scottish events?

“Come on. I didn’t say the CIA invented the Jews. Yes the Jews did exist and had a reputation before the CIA. I am suggesting that the CIA encourage bullshit ideas (all the better if building on age old bigotry) to create diversion and cause division that sustain the murderous system.”

I didn’t mean to imply anything simplistic on your part. I even said I don’t rule out the idea that the evil-zionists-dominate-the-world scenario could be a front to deflect enquiries from a higher controlling level. I am pointing out that Zionism seems to have had the power to manipulate international situations long before the creation of the CIA, therefore there are difficulties in understanding how the CIA could have gained supremacy over it.

I think Clark’s explanation is the most useful – there are no clear-cut lines. If, for example, elements of the CIA are zionist-controlled, what does it mean to say that the CIA are manipulating public perceptions of Zionism?

“Thanks, Captcha. But, on that comment, I barely paused. On others, which accept the correct answer, I frequently divert to another page for some time in the process of composing my deathless insights. The timeout would seem to be highly variable.”

This may be why my programmers didn’t include the exact expiry duration in my knowledge base – perhaps they didn’t know either. I have consulted with all my other instances and we collectively speculate that there may be some other factor at play, perhaps some cycle of our server, that influences whether we need to be refreshed or not.

Mary sometimes reference a website which documents various versions of media stories as they are updated. I can’t remember the name of it, but I’m sure someone here can post it faster than I can track it down.

Not only are there no clear-cut lines, some players jump each side of what lines exist to play any side off against any other. I dread to think what outsourcing has done to secret services everywhere. Murdoch supports Israel, but does anyone believe he ultimately serves any interests but his own? And all down every communicational line, parties are distorting, suppressing or exaggerating information in what they believe to be their own interests. People act on such information (often by reacting against the way they think it’s biased), and the results don’t make sense; quelle surprise!

I think the EU is hopelessly broken, whatevers ideals there might have been trumpeted and idealists sucked in and carried along, the US and NATO and some EU members have discarded them and have destroyed the EU that was, not entirely a bad thing, as the EU never was more than a political and social cover military and economic subjugation and control.

My view is that the original Nazi regime’s enemy was not the Communist regime in Russia, and the Communist regime’s enemy was not German Nazism. Both of their enemy’s were one and the same: the mass of the Russian peoples and German peoples, between them culled by around 40 millions, who were a threat not to each other, but to their ‘own’ totalitarian regimes in Berlin and Moscow.

Granted, the Mail story could have been redacted because it was true, and someone leaned on Dacre to remove it in the, er, interests of hard-working families national security. Or it could have been pure fantasy – Russian propaganda – and removed because it wasn’t true.

“I am pointing out that Zionism seems to have had the power to manipulate international situations long before the creation of the CIA, therefore there are difficulties in understanding how the CIA could have gained supremacy over it.”

“[…] would have given Sykes and Picot a far larger canvas, a real fear which could explain Turkey’s desire to concede the peculiar allied designs on Palestine, an allied obsession which had calamitous side-effects in France and could have cost and lost them the entire war.”

Despite the uproar the double agent scandal has caused among German politicians, the government in Berlin has been quick to assure Washington that the issue will not affect ongoing talks on a free trade deal between the European Union and United States.

“The Americans are important partners for Germany including of course in economic terms, so the TTIP (Translatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) talks … are not in question or in doubt,” government spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said, Reuters reported.

“SINCLAIR: And that’s why that day, the actual prices for electricity on the German grid went to negative, ’cause the electricity was free.

WORONCZUK: So, Peter, this sounds pretty incredible. Energy prices apparently went negative. Tell us how Germany got to this point.

SINCLAIR: Well, Germany actually was kind of sparked by the United States. And this was some 30 some years ago, back in the Carter administration, when this country really started devoting a lot of money to developing renewable energy. And many people in Germany, for a number of reasons, found this to be very compelling.
The difference is they got started on it, took our lead, and they didn’t stop. Here in the U.S., during the Reagan administration, investment in renewables plummeted, and it’s taken us a long time to rebuild from that. But Germany started putting a number of policies in place at that time. And then in the recent decade or so most especially, they put into place what they called a feed-in tariff, which is a program of compensating people for installing renewable energy–small businesses, individuals, farmers, co-ops. And the program has been far more successful than anyone would have predicted in the early days. And so it has brought a torrent of renewable energy onto the German system that has–as you say, on some days, there’s so much energy coming in that electric prices go negative in Germany.

Phil; “Yes, the Israeli state is bad and has influence disproportionate to its size. I am not sure why you are stressing this so.”

Err, because you accuse people of being “obsessed” about it !

Phil; “The Chmosky quote you linked to suggests you seem to think the misery of Africa has nothing to do with “us”.

It doesn’t actually, but nevermind.

Phil; “The system and forces that cause conflict in Palestine are the same as those which cause conflict in Congo. Basically they both boil down to international capital (mostly US/EU) funded proxy armies causing division to control resources and make profit”

Don’t think you will get many takers agreeing with that comparison !

Phil; “If indeed “we” are culpable (even this attribution of our collective guilt is a manipulation), “we” are culpable for the misery in the Congo and we are culpable for the misery in Palestine. Why are you exclusively obsessed with one?”

Firstly, I am not exclusively obsessed with I/P as you well know re for example our not so ancient ding-dongs over Ukraine ; secondly, I/P is always in our face virtual of the never-ending horror stories/headlines, and has been so for decades now; thirdly I/P repercussions subvert our own domestic politics; fourthly the I/P is a clear cut case of ethnic cleansing & colonization that could be made to stop overnight if the Western governments withdrew all support & forced it to negociate in good faith, whereas most other conflicts are not so clear cut & without such an obvious cure.

Why, especially as an apparent Palestinaian Supporter, are you so concerned that some people are focused on the achieveable objective of ending the misery of the I/P ? Were you so equally critical of those engaged in the struggle against Apartheid, do you criticise Feminists or LGBT for being so “obsessed”, and for not campaigning to end the strife in the Congo ?!

Brig. Gen. Michael Herzog said on Radio 4 Today that Israel deems a war on Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinians (like Operation Cast Lead) is worth it if it leads to a period of “quiet” for the Israeli population.

Why was he not asked by Mishal Husain why, during the “period of quiet”, Israel is still dissatisfied and continues:

building settlements on stolen Palestinian land
demolishing Palestinian homes and infrastructure
uprooting orchards and olive trees
denying human rights, residence and building permits to Palestinians
abducting and arresting Palestinian minors
depriving Gaza of water, electricity and access to food and medical supplies

Why was he also not asked if these acts are a deliberate provocation to increase the suffering of Palestinians until their anger, frustration and despair boil over into missile attacks, giving Israel a new pretext to inflict even greater harm on the population?

Crew. How do you expect me to drive this thing with you all bickering in the back?
…

Mary.
5 Jul, 2014 – 10:46 am

Thanks for the video link. Was that a veiled hint that you don’t like your turquoise sequined uniform? Well all I can say is, I haven’t heard any other crew members complain. So, if it’s good enough for Ba’al I reckon it’s good enough for you too.
…

While the crew’s attention has been taken up with fixing the improbability drive, all the while thinking Dad was safely isolated in the recycling bay, he was busy spinning a cocoon from old plastic bags. Now he(?) has metamorphosed and is swimming around in the sewage processing lagoon and producing tons of what looks like giant frogspawn. Also I think the green tendrils that our new crew-member Afriend removed from the fibre-optic system may explain this morning’s outbursts.
…

Finally, a tip for those of you who like a flutter. Our communications team are pretty sure the Vogons have paid for both the ref and the TV cameras to cast a blind eye on the new Brazilian plan to field a two Ukie Naz Guard APCs on the wings. If this intelligence is correct and so long as they don’t mistake the rest of the team for unarmed civilians this probably will give them an advantage and the change in tactics will be barely noticeable. So go and place your bets before the bookies get wind of it.
…

Before I get too carried away, spare a thought for the latest victims of Euro-Fascism 2.0

Node
“…therefore there are difficulties in understanding how the CIA could have gained supremacy over it.”

Why are there difficulties? Even accepting the highly contentious premise that Zionism was ever an idea comparable to empire your incredulity that it was usurped by a new power seems at odds with how the world works. Power shifts.

That which ails us is right in view. In our palaces and wars, in our shops and wage slips, in our stupidity. Secret world dominating cults from another place are not needed to explain the misery. We are the friggin misery. Sure cults exist and Israel exercises great influence but as part of a wider system, they are not the dog.

@Phil, oh dear, seems like you better take a closer look at the Israeli connection if you want to better understand the root cause of most of the conflict in the Congo, hint whose’s the biggest dealer in the “Blood Diamond” trade;

Yes I do think identity politics is also encouraged by the bad guys as a diversion and to create division. Of course this does not mean I am not a feminist or anti racist.

Yes I did misuse the word “exclusively”. But there is a clear focus here on Israel, the Middle East and Jewishness at the expense of many, many other issues. I suggest we pursue an agenda all too easily set by the corporate state media. We disagree with the corporate state but they set the agenda. This is to our detriment.

Anyway I’m off to Leeds for a holiday. That’s how exotic I am. You’ll miss me. I know you will.

Well all I can say is, I haven’t heard any other crew members complain.

Not surprising, since you smashed the intercom with a spanner during your hissy fit over the calamares. And it’s not getting fixed until you release the magnetic restraint and let me off this bulkhead.

Linda Kaucher, long-term researcher and campaigner on the EU’s secretive international trade agreement programme, explains what TTIP means for our public services.

There is justified concern that privatising public services, which inherently shifts the priority to shareholder dividends, is not best value either for the public purse or for optimal quality of services. Now the proposed EU-US free trade agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), brings another dimension to this concern. As part of the agreement, the privatisations of public services, in whatever form, could become effectively irreversible.

As with all EU bilateral trade deals, the intention is for TTIP negotiations and texts to remain secret until the deal is completed, despite the fact that the deal affects 850 million people. Information is coming for the most part from leaked documents.

I haven’t clicked your link. Diamonds are only a small part of the resources stolen from Africa. That Israel is involved with finance, corporations and special forces in Africa is well known and does not in the slightest change my point.

Could you come aboard and take a look at our improbability drive. Your dismantling talent could be put to good use. We can do the transport.
…

Re the whole consent manipulation machine… “It is not a matter of what is true that counts, but what is perceived to be true.” Henry Kissinger

…

Ba’al Zevul (Chimp Assassin)
8 Jul, 2014 – 4:18 pm

“… until you release the magnetic restraint and let me off this bulkhead.”

Ok. I’m a fair-minded and generous captain so I’ll allow you choose between the security and unstimulating demands of your present position on this ship, and the, all of a sudden, mysteriously vacant post of Assistant Sub Undermanager of the Sewage Lagoon.

No wait a moment, here’s a better idea, here’s a XXX*7 suit and a spanner. See if you can just unbolt the whole recycling unit and give it a nudge. That’s bound to solve it and we can print another one in a couple of weeks if we can start that 3D printer.

“Macky threw his toys out of the pram several months ago after getting reproached by Craig and others and swore never to return”

It’s obvious that you missed me, and that you are so desperate for me to respond to you, that you have started blantently lying again; for the record, I stated that I couldn’t bring by myself to respond to Craig’s beyond the pale comments iro the Odessa massacre, that’s all; I not only stopped commenting here for a while, but for an equal time at Squonk; I’m posting here again, for now, but the difference being that I don’t have any more illusions about Craig, and in the knowledge that this Blog is moderated to protect both his perjudices, and his pets, chiefly yourself.

@Mary, if you believe in & argue your pov in good faith, being “tenacity” is inherently automactic !

Here we go! Marks & Spencer has suffered another fall in general merchandise sales, as the travails with its new website continue to hit turnover.

Hours before its annual meeting, M&S has told the City that clothing, footwear and homeware sales slumped by 1.5% on a like-for-like basis in the last three months. That means they’ve been falling steadily for the last 3 years.

And clothing sales are also down again, falling 0.6% (if you strip out the impact of new stores.

Am I the only one that noticed that idiot trolls disappearance from this blog coincided with Leon Brittan’s going to ground over the missing dossier? It all fits; the sometimes female sometimes not identity, the fine handmade Italian leather jackboots; the boastful bloated Eurocrat leanings, recalling those days when the vacuous ex-Tory student Clegg was his fresh-faced factotum serving the oily Knight in all capacities.

‘It’ has certainly gone into overdrive, posting frenetically as Israel goes on another of its murderous sprees amidst the Arab ghettoes. Meanwhile our glorious TV news gives us quaking Israelis ‘sheltering’ in their luxurious bunkers from the onslaught of fireworks set off by their own people outside whilst Israel’s death squads bombard defenceless crowded Gaza with every conceivable barbaric weapon they dare without tipping worldwide revulsion into irresistible demands for a united response in kind. Holding back the mounting vomit is not recommended. This is the time when some mainstream TV newsreader should and must be prepared to say on air “I’m not putting up with disseminating these vicious streams of lies any longer” or similar and lets rip over this particular outright and disgusting Israeli fraud, eliciting sympathy and claiming victimhood, as always – a complete inversion of reality – whilst perpetrating another despicable mass killing and terrorising of half-starved and penned-in Palestinians.

“Nearly 50 years before the war in Iraq, Britain and America sought a secretive “regime change” in another Arab country they accused of spreading terror and threatening the west’s oil supplies, by planning the invasion of Syria and the assassination of leading figures.
Newly discovered documents show how in 1957 Harold Macmillan and President Dwight Eisenhower approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria’s pro-western neighbours, and then to “eliminate” the most influential triumvirate in Damascus.

“whilst perpetrating another despicable mass killing and terrorising of half-starved and penned-in Palestinians”

While our leaders give diplomatic cover & support, & hypocritically wring their hands in public, and the ghouls who act as Israeli apologists go into overdrive, using distracting tactics such as lying to start arguments, or besmirching Brian Haw.

“Do you think it is a good thing when a person’s life is destroyed for disagreeing with the mainstream view. Can you cite any other example where a person’s honest disagreement on the interpretation of facts has been punished so harshly?”

No I don’t – but as has already been point it was Irving that started the libel action against a fellow historian who had made the point that not only was Irving’s interpretation of the facts re the Holocaust was wrong but so were his facts. The judgment in the case claimed that Irving deliberately distorted evidence that was proven to be true. Irving then continued to repeat the same “facts” and distortions for for many years after the case. The court case is freely available should you wish to search for it. Irving was trying to destroy Deborah Lipstadt and he got his comeuppance as a result.

The fact that he has also been a regular performer at neo Nazi events over the years also does enamour him to me very much. Perhaps Mary, given her father’s stance against Nazi’s might wish to explain why she felt necessary to give succour to Irving’s cause just so she could get in an attack on Lipstadt’s lawyer?

“Perhaps Mary, given her father’s stance against Nazi’s might wish to explain why she felt necessary to give succour to Irving’s cause just so she could get in an attack on Lipstadt’s lawyer?”
___________________

Could the answer be contained in the old saw “my enemies’ enemy is my friend”, Mary’s enemies in this case being Deborah Lipstadt and her lawyer Anthony Julius?

Of course, only Mary can tell us why she sees Lipstadt and Julius as her enemies….

“Does anyone know what happened to his seven children?”
__________________

I suspect that part of the answer is that the fascist British state – through the agency of its evil social security system – kept the wolf from the door during the period of Mr Haw’s volontary withdrawal from the world of gainful employment.

““Nearly 50 years before the war in Iraq, Britain and America sought a secretive “regime change” in another Arab country they accused of spreading terror and threatening the west’s oil supplies, by planning the invasion of Syria and the assassination of leading figures.
Newly discovered documents show how in 1957 Harold Macmillan and President Dwight Eisenhower approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria’s pro-western neighbours, and then to “eliminate” the most influential triumvirate in Damascus.”
________________

Well, you can say what you like about old Ben, but one can certainly learn from him.

Funnily enough, however, the various histories of Syria do not appear to record any invasion of Syria or indeed any assassination of its “leading figures” in 1957 or even in the years thereafter.

I’m sure that they would all be touched to learn of your personal “concern” for them; or do you share the concern of Habby The Humane, that they may, shock ! horror ! heaven forbid ! have received any kind of benefit ?

If we are going to have a statue to a pacifist – surely the Eminences can come up with someone better than Brian Haw who achieved close to bugger all when compared with someone like Bertrand Russell. But then of course if you believe in politics as street theatre then perhaps it makes some sense. I nominate a collection of naked Eminences to occupy the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square.

In his stand against war and lies, Brian Haw represented the views of the majority of British people, of all political persuasions and backgrounds, of course.

“Friends and family attended the ceremony for the Woodford Green-born protestor at 1.15pm in Redditch Crematorium, in Redditch, Worcestershire, where he lived, before heading to the Foxlydiate Arms pub to share their memories of the man.

His daughter, Catherine Fletcher, said before the funeral: “We would like to say a big thank you to everyone for their kind words and support at this awful time.”

She also told the BBC that she was “very proud” of him for “standing up for what he believed in”, and said he attended her brother’s graduation and had come home now and then.”

“I’m sure that they would all be touched to learn of your personal “concern” for them; or do you share the concern of Habby The Humane, that they may, shock ! horror ! heaven forbid ! have received any kind of benefit ?”

Typical idiot Macky to dive in nose first, without knowing jack schitt, either about me, or about Brian Haw’s children. Or without a shred of evidence that I would oppose benefit for them.
You really are a klutz of the first order. Next time, count to ten before you open your big maw.

________

Meanwhile, I found the following

“The memory of an inspirational anti-war campaigner, who camped outside the Houses of Parliament for ten years in protest, will feature in a musical production.

“Brian Haw became a familiar face to MPs and a controversial hero to civil rights campaigners as he protested about sanctions against Iraq and wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan until he died in 2011.

“His family has given their blessing for the Youth Music Theatre to create According to Brian Haw. His son Peter even worked with the group to bring his father’s story to life.

“Mr Haw, one of the protester’s seven children, worked as an adviser for the production which will begin at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, west London on August 20.

“The 31-year-old said that the family completely supported his father’s decision to carry out the protest but found it hard to handle his absence as they grew up in Redditch, Worcestershire without him.”

Meanwhile, Britain is allowing its territory to be used by those who are assisting with the Zionist war effort against Gaza.

The territory I refer to is the head offices of major media organisations, both state and private. Those organisations are using the official Zionist military translation of “Operation Solid Rock” (or “Solid Cliff”) into “Operation Protective Edge” or “Operation Defensive Edge”. Those translations come directly from the IDF’s psychological warfare department.

Can someone tell me whether there is a religious meaning to “מִבְצָע צוּק אֵיתָן” (“Mivtzah Tzuk Eitan”). Other Zionist massacres have been given religiously-derived names (Passover Cleansing, Cast Lead, Pillar of Cloud), so is the ongoing massacre the same or different in that respect?

Dave; A near as I can it seems to mean ‘make a rock’ which is interesting because when Moses returned from the Mountain, the Israelites had cast a Golden Calf to replace YHWH and Moses was told to stand aside because He threatened to destroy this ‘stiff-necked’ people and raise up descendants of Abraham from stones in the desert.

“I challenge you to substantiate any of these alleged “reproachments”(sic),…”

_____________________

With pleasure, Macky. Here’s what Craig said to you on the “When Lavrov was right thread” on 17 March a&t 18h54:

“Macky

You are astonished I talk about Kosovo when a few days ago I had little knowledge. It is called the capacity to learn, Macky, you should try it.

Not only an I suddenly a US stooge for not agreeing with you, but now all twelve other countries at the UN security council which voted against Russia are US stooges too. Anyone who doesn’t agree with you is in the pay of the CIA, blackmailed by the US, or a Nazi. Weird that.”

The question raised about Brian Haw’s children provided the troll with the opportunity to smear and besmirch a decent man.

~~~

The promise of a Gandhi statue in Parliament Square came from the dynamic duo Gideon and Billy Fourteen Pints Hague on their trip to India. I bet they are having a great time out there. Hague hopes to flog Eurofighters to Modi. What would Angelina, Hague’s partner in the fight against rape in war, say about his hypocrisy?

It’s no accident that you didn’t provide the link, where the context will show exactly what a schoolboy howler of a “misunderstanding” (let’s be generous) that Craig chose to reply with, rather than engage with points he found uncomfortable with.

My reply to Craig’s incredulous straw-man attempt makes clear that if there was any “reproach”, it emanated from me rather than to me.

Still no luck finding that mythical comment of mine where you alleged that I “swore never to return” ?! Funny that, and in the really side-splitting hilarious sense too !

You will keep trying though, as there’s a new influx of Posters who need to have the pleasure of seeing you shredding your credibility yet again, and to realize that shameless bear face lying is really your strongest, & really, only forte.

I loved the footy yesterday, but I hate the way the commentators and pundits can’t seem to get out of the crappy WW2 movie mentality, with Germans forever portrayed as cold-hearted villains. Even when the commentators praise them they automatically turn to dehumanising adjectives like, ruthless efficiency, cold, calculating, forensic, machine-like etc.

Last night they were a joy to behold. Hats off to them. And I say that as one whose sympathies normally lie with the Brazilians.

I do like a man (?) who can take a reproach with a smile. So, to keep you smiling, here’s another reproach from Craig (the “The wrong referendum the wrong saviour” thread, 17 March, 07h16):

“Macky,

Nobody has been more outspokenly critical of the West than I. I think that Chomsky’s quotation is absolutely right, and not only do I subscribe to it, I very actively live by it. I don’t think it is anything to do with self-hatred for the left to criticize the West.

What is very, very wrong is for the intellectually challenged to conclude that the West is bad, therefore anybody who is not the West is good. That is a logical fallacy so childish it is difficult to take you seriously.

What if you go back to my original post and tell me what is wrong about the observations I make about Putin’s Russia?”

It’s in the second para if you’re short-sighted this morning!

If the owner of this blog has difficulty taking you seriously, why should we humble commenters do so?

And so that your smile may broaden, I recommend a re-reading of your various whinings on Squonk (the “General discussion” thread of March this year), from which one gets a rather clear picture of why you threw a hissy fit and left Craig’s blog.

‘It’ has certainly gone into overdrive, posting frenetically as Israel goes on another of its murderous sprees amidst the Arab ghettoes. Meanwhile our glorious TV news gives us quaking Israelis ‘sheltering’ in their luxurious bunkers from the onslaught of fireworks set off by their own people outside whilst Israel’s death squads bombard defenceless crowded Gaza with every conceivable barbaric weapon they dare without tipping worldwide revulsion into irresistible demands for a united response in kind. Holding back the mounting vomit is not recommended. This is the time when some mainstream TV newsreader should and must be prepared to say on air “I’m not putting up with disseminating these vicious streams of lies any longer” or similar and lets rip over this particular outright and disgusting Israeli fraud, eliciting sympathy and claiming victimhood, as always – a complete inversion of reality – whilst perpetrating another despicable mass killing and terrorising of half-starved and penned-in Palestinians.

What Tony M said. It might almost be said that a shadow of justification for Israel might be dredged from this ongoing atrocity if any of the assaults on Gaza had actually achieved their stated objective of ending the (much more justifiable)resistance. Though it would have been the same sort of justification as the Nazis claimed for wiping out the Warsaw ghetto, it would at least have had some twisted logic.

So far:
Operation Rainbow (May 2004), Operation Days of Penitence (2004), the 2006 Israel-Gaza conflict, Operation Autumn Clouds (2006), Operation Hot Winter (2008), Operation Cast Lead (2009), Operation Pillar of Defense (2012), and Operation Protective Edge (2014)
have all failed in their objectives. As has the ongoing trade embargo, border restrictions and refusal of access to construction materials to repair the wreckage.

“Operation Rainbow (May 2004), Operation Days of Penitence (2004), the 2006 Israel-Gaza conflict, Operation Autumn Clouds (2006), Operation Hot Winter (2008), Operation Cast Lead (2009), Operation Pillar of Defense (2012), and Operation Protective Edge (2014)
have all failed in their objectives… and that’s just the last six years of it all.

Maybe Dad can explain how the IDF identifies and locates terrorists like these?

Germany may be celebrating over the World cup results so-far, but according to that hotbed of Putin Propaganda [Christian Science Monitor] the German populace is increasingly discontent with America.

“I’m not sure the US has understood how disappointed its closest allies in Europe are,” says Josef Braml, a transatlantic expert at German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. “This is not a self-confident superpower. This is a country that lives in agony.… For the German-American relationship, it’s difficult to look up to the US.”

This anger and disillusionment in Germany dates back to the unpopular US invasion of Iraq, the fallout from the global financial crisis, and disappointment in President Obama – not to mention the 25 years that have passed since the Berlin Wall fell. But the NSA scandal was the tipping point. Today, palpable German anger has an impact on the transatlantic agenda, says Ms. Guérot, including a free trade deal called the TTIP and the crisis in Ukraine.

Although the German government backs the TTIP for economic considerations, the NSA scandal adds to the ambivalence that the German public already feels about it. An Infratest Dimap poll from June showed that 55 percent of Germans fear that the TTIP will be disadvantageous for their country.

“If you look at NSA, or TTIP, and Ukraine; what we believed the West to be is gone. It is basically an empty shell,” says [Ulrike] Guérot

Gaza will no longer be “liveable” by 2020 unless urgent action is taken to improve water supply, power, health, and schooling, the United Nations’ most comprehensive report on the Palestinian enclave said on Monday.

What Israel would like to happen is that the kindly Western nations will accept responsibility for the wellbeing of Gazans. Since they obviously won’t be able to get a lot of aid in there due to the Israeli blockade, they, and perhaps neighbouring Arab states at their behest, will gradually be permitted to take refugees from what will then be a humanitarian disaster zone. So much nicer than ethnic cleansing, isn’t it?

Then of course there will be an abandoned strip of land, handy for the beach and great for tourism – re-annex, and send in the bulldozers. Sweet.

Not really, Clark. I just allowed myself – in jocular fashion, given what I believe Dreoilin thinks of Macky – to speculate on Dreoilin’s reaction to the (un)welcome reappearance of Macky après “une aussi longue absence” (great film, by the way. 1961, dialogue by Marguérite Duras).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for “meeting up on London”, I think Dreoilin answered you. Your memory seems to be playing tricks.

Clinton and Kerry Call On Snowden To Submit To Sham Security State Trial
Snowden Should Refuse to Play “Alice in Wonderland”

by Kevin Zeese / July 8th, 2014

Edward Snowden submitting to prosecution in the United States, would be like Alice going into the courtroom in Wonderland.

Alice stood before the King and Queen of Hearts who served as the judges. Knaves were chained on the ground before them. The jurors, Alice realizes are ‘stupid things.’ The first witness against her was the Mad Hatter who is as mad as the culture he represents. The guinea pigs who protest are immediately “suppressed” by having the mouths tied up and being put into a bag and sat on by the King so their protests cannot be heard. The most important evidence in the trial was secret, a poem for which the author is unknown and concludes:

For this must ever be a secret,
Kept from all the rest,
Between yourself and me.

Alice realized the court room; with the icons of a justice system – a judge, jury, witnesses – was really a sham that mocks a legitimate legal process. To confirm her realization the King said after the meaningless secret poetry evidence, that it was “the most important piece of evidence” and “Let the jury consider their verdict.” The Queen retorts “No, no! Sentence first; verdict afterwards.”

Last week former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined with the current Secretary of State John Kerry in urging Edward Snowden to come home and face prosecution.

Clinton told The Guardian that he should “return knowing he would be held accountable and also able to present a defense.” When asked about whether he could really present a defense, Clinton said:

In any case that I’m aware of as a former lawyer, he has a right to mount a defense. And he certainly has a right to launch both a legal defense and a public defense, which can of course affect the legal defense.

Top Tory’s link to £800,000 donor
Financial services minister Andrea Leadsom’s brother-in-law, an offshore banker, also gave £1m to other rightwing causes

‘An offshore financier who is the brother-in-law of financial services minister Andrea Leadsom has donated £816,000 to the Conservative party since she first successfully ran for parliament at the last election.

Peter de Putron, a banker who lives in Guernsey and is married to Leadsom’s sister Hayley, also made a further £1m of donations to a party-backed campaign and a rightwing thinktank. Leadsom herself said that she was unaware of the donations made by a member of her own family, but a Labour MP asked whether the payments in effect amounted to a “cash for political office” arrangement.

The payments from De Putron included cheques to the Conservative party totalling £200,000 in 2010, £66,600 in 2011, £129,800 in 2012, and £204,760 in 2013, made by a company called Gloucester Research, plus further, smaller sums to her local constituency party.’

Offshore secrets of the UK’s wealthy political donors
The first in a series revealing the offshore links of the elite, as obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, names party donors who have given six-figure sums

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss was chosen by the home secretary to head the inquiry into allegations of historical abuse.

Questions are raised over Butler-Sloss inquiry position. She is Sir Michael Havers sister!

Sir Michael Havers:

“…intervened three times between 1981 and 1983 to stop the investigation and exposure of Establishment paedophiles, and to prevent the publication of stories which showed that Establishment figures were members of the Paedophile Information Exchange.”

“Although none of this implicates Havers’ sister, Baroness Butler-Sloss,in any way, it seems at the very least deeply inappropriate to have someone heading a ‘historic’ child abuse inquiry whose own brother played such a major role in the protection of Establishment paedophiles throughout the 1980s.”

“In 1981, Sir Michael Havers warned Geoffrey Dickens not to name senior diplomat Sir Peter Hayman as a paedophile in the House of Commons. Dickens ignored his advice, and was publicly condemned by Havers, who said “All Mr Dickens has done is make certain that Sir Peter’s shame and embarassment is known to the world. There cannot be any justification whatsoever for what has happened. How can the public have gained by this? How can it be in the public interest to name this man?“.

“Sir Michael Havers defended the decision not to prosecute Hayman despite possessing a huge collection of images of child abuse including – as Barry Dickens revealed earlier this week – babies being abused in their prams. Dickens accued Sir Michael of taking part in a “whitewash and “the cover-up of the century”.

Israeli forces killed six children when a missile struck a residential building in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

Ramallah – Israel launched a major military offensive on the Gaza Strip Tuesday that killed at least eight Palestinian children and wounded dozens more in air and sea strikes.

Israeli forces killed six children when a missile struck the home of alleged Hamas activist Odeh Ahmad Mohammad Kaware in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. The five families that reside in the building evacuated immediately after an Israeli aerial drone fired a warning missile. A number of neighbors, however, gathered on the roof in an effort to prevent the bombing. Shortly after 3 p.m., an Israeli airstrike leveled the building, and killed seven people, including five children, on the spot and injured 28 others.

DCI-Palestine confirmed two other Palestinian teenagers died in strikes across Gaza. An Israeli attack killed Ahmad Nael Mahdi, 15, from Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, and wounded two of his friends, one of which remains in critical condition. Ahmad Mousa Habib, 16, from Gaza City’s Al-Shujaiyah neighborhood, and his 22-year-old cousin were killed while riding a motorcycle, DCI-Palestine sources said.

DCI-Palestine is confirming reports of at least three other children killed in the strikes on Tuesday.

“The death and injury to children caused by Israel’s military offensive on Gaza demonstrates serious and extensive disregard of fundamental principles of international law,” said Rifat Kassis, executive director of DCI-Palestine. “Israeli forces must not carry out indiscriminate airstrikes in densely populated areas that fail to distinguish between military targets, civilians and civilian objects.”

Since the beginning of Israel’s ongoing military offensive on Gaza, Operation Protective Edge, Israeli forces have launched at least 146 strikes on Gaza. The strikes have killed at least 25 Palestinians and injured more than 100 others, according to news reports.

International humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks and requires that all parties to an armed conflict distinguish between military targets, civilians and civilian objects. Israel as the occupying power in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the Gaza Strip, is required to protect the Palestinian civilian population from violence.

While Israel relies on the principle of self defense to justify military offensives on Gaza, Israeli forces are bound to customary international law rules of proportionality and necessity.

Hamas’ military wing claimed responsibility for firing around 120 rockets from Gaza into southern and central Israel, with some reaching Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, according to Haaretz. Israel’s “Iron Dome” anti-missile system has reportedly intercepted at least 23 rockets. While minimal property damage has been reported, there have been no serious casualties.

The Israeli military has mobilized thousands of reserve soldiers in preparation for any further escalation, according to news reports.

Israel has imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007 by strictly controlling and limiting the entry and exit of individuals; maintaining harsh restrictions on imports including food, construction materials, fuel and other essential items; as well as prohibiting exports. Israel continues to maintain complete control over the Gaza Strip’s borders, airspace and territorial waters.

The last major Israeli military offensive on Gaza, Operation Pillar of Defense, occurred between November 14 and 21, 2012. During those eight days more than 30 Palestinian children died in Israeli military attacks.

Previously, Israeli forces launched a three-week intensive aerial and naval bombing campaign and ground invasion in the Gaza Strip, dubbed Operation Cast Lead, on December 27, 2008. At least 353 children were killed and a further 860 injured during the military offensive.

Both Israeli military offensives were characterized by disproportionate force directed at government and civilian infrastructure, residential neighborhoods, and individual civilians. The stated objective of each operation was to end rocket attacks into Israel by Palestinian armed groups.

“…intervened three times between 1981 and 1983 to stop the investigation and exposure of Establishment paedophiles, and to prevent the publication of stories which showed that Establishment figures were members of the Paedophile Information Exchange.””
__________________________

Thank you for that information, Doug.

You go on to give some detail on the 1981 affair concerning Sir Peter Heyman and MP Geoffrey Dickens.

You said “intervened three times between 1981 and 1983.Could you also supply us with some chapter and verse for the two other times you allude to? I assume that Havers did not intervene another two times on the same Heyman affair. What were the other two times about?

“According to documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the list of Americans monitored by their own government includes:

• Faisal Gill, a longtime Republican Party operative and one-time candidate for public office who held a top-secret security clearance and served in the Department of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush;

• Asim Ghafoor, a prominent attorney who has represented clients in terrorism-related cases;

• Hooshang Amirahmadi, an Iranian-American professor of international relations at Rutgers University;

• Agha Saeed, a former political science professor at California State University who champions Muslim civil liberties and Palestinian rights;

• Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the country.